Minimum wage: general strike and protests for higher wages in France

Protest marches are forming on the streets, the unions are demanding more money: the demand is that both the minimum wage and other salaries in France should be increased.

Paris. With mass protests on the streets and a general strike, France's unions want to push the government to significantly increase the minimum wage. While demonstrations were already forming in several large cities on a nationwide day of protest, the head of the CFDT union, Marylise Léon, called for an increase of 100 euros net per month in an interview with the broadcaster BFMTV. People should be able to make a decent living from their work.

The general secretary of the CGT union, Sophie Binet, praised the government's announcement that it wanted to further increase the minimum wage beyond the increase that was already due in January 2027. However, an additional increase of 0.5 or 0.6 percent is not enough.

"France is the European country where the minimum wage has increased the least in the last ten years. We are now a low-wage country," Binet told broadcaster LCI. Other wages would also have to be increased.

The head of the Force ouvrière (FO) union, Frédéric Souilllot, had already called for an increase in the minimum wage to 2,000 euros gross per month in an interview with the newspaper “La Tribune” on Sunday.

The minimum wage per hour in France is currently 12.31 euros gross. In Germany it is currently 13.90 euros and from January it will be 14.60 euros. A person employed at the minimum wage in France earns around 1,867 euros gross for a 35-hour week; in Germany it is around 2,343 euros gross.